International

PARIS: Iran’s security forces fired on a crowd in the Kurdish-populated west on Saturday, killing a 22-year-old, a rights group said, more than 100 days after the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini sparked nationwide protests. The Islamic republic has been rocked by demonstrations since Amini died in custody on Sept 16 following her arrest for an alleged breach of …

HONG KONG: China’s top lawmaking body has given Hong Kong leader John Lee the power to bar foreign lawyers from national security cases, removing the decision from the city’s courts, in a move likely to further fuel concerns over judicial independence. The use of foreign lawyers by both prosecutors and the defence have long been part of the former British …

UNITED NATIONS: The Arab region registered the world’s highest unemployment rate in 2022, about 12 per cent, says a UN survey released this weekend. The Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the Arab Region, however, projects post-Covid-19 economic recovery efforts to prompt a very slight decrease next year — to 11.7pc. Following an estimated 5.2pc growth in 2022, the …

ZAGREB: Croatia was counting down the hours on Saturday ahead of a switch to the euro and entry into Europe’s passport-free zone — two major milestones for the country after joining the EU nearly a decade ago. At midnight (2300 GMT) the Balkan nation will bid farewell to its kuna currency and become the 20th member of the eurozone. It …

SEOUL: North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, Seoul’s military said, adding a final salvo to Pyongyang’s record-breaking blitz of launches this year. Military tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen sharply in 2022 as the North has conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month, including firing its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile ever. Saturday’s launch comes a …

An explosion outside the military airport in Kabul on Sunday caused multiple casualties, a spokesman for the Taliban-run interior ministry said. “Today morning an explosion took place outside Kabul military airport, due to which a number of our citizens were martyred and injured,” spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor told Reuters, adding that investigations were underway. He did not specify the nature or …

China appointed US ambassador Qin Gang as its new foreign minister on Friday, state media reported, installing a top diplomat known for tough talk against the West. The 56-year-old replaces Wang Yi, who has been the face of Chinese diplomacy since 2013. Qin had been Beijing’s top representative in Washington since last year, charged with putting the relationship between the …

TEHRAN: Iran held joint naval, air, and ground exercises in the Gulf on Friday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway. The drills involve submarines and drones “practising information-gathering operations against attacking forces”, as well as reconnaissance operations, Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told the official IRNA news agency. The exercises, code named Zolfaghar-1401, were launched on Friday in the eastern side of the …

BEIRUT: An attack in eastern Syria killed 12 oil field workers, a war monitor said on Friday, a day after Syrian Kurdish-led forces announced an offensive against militants. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which draws on extensive sources inside Syria, gave the toll of 12 dead in the assault near an oil field west of Deir Ezzor. It …

WASHINGTON: Democrats in Congress released six years of Donald Trump’s tax records to the public on Friday, disclosing documents the former president long sought to keep secret and dealing another setback as he again seeks the White House in 2024. A Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives committee released Trump’s redacted returns for 2015 through 2020, capping a multi-year battle between …